Light wood trusses are important structural components in light wood frame construction.Formation and nonlinear behavior of truss plate joints were taken into consideration to develop a finite element （FE） model for the light wood trusses. The FE model was validated by comparing predicted results with testing results and then used to predict structural behavior of light wood frame trusses with other configurations such as load patterns, truss heights and truss formations. The FE model was easy to learn and showed good accuracy. The FE modeling method could contribute to further investigation of structural behavior of light wood trusses.